I guess I've had better luck with the oil sprayers that I've bought. While one was a total piece of junk, I picked up a no name version that I've used for around 3 years. Just don't pay more than 5 bucks (and keep your receipt )

Barry

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Light travels faster than sound. That's why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

Barry, a shorter bake time will go a long way to solve your cheese finishing before crust race. In my 4 minute bakes, I have a really hard time getting the cheese to finish cooking before the crust starts getting a bit too dark. I've actually started leaving my cheese out to get to room temp and heating my sauce a bit before baking, and that's helped a bit, but it's always a struggle.

There is no magical brand of part skim that acts like whole milk. I prefer the flavor of the more opaque, white-ish part skims, which, for me, are mostly the store brands. There's nothing wrong with the more translucent stuff (polly-o, sorrento).

In order to melt properly and not burn too easily, cheese needs fat. It need not be milkfat, though. If you have issues with saturated fat, then you can go with any part skim cheese and drizzle a light layer of olive oil over it and it will melt magnificently. The olive oil will also add to the flavor of the cheese. If you have to cut all fats, then I'd still use the oil, but with less oil and less cheese. It's better to have a little cheese that bubbles/browns well than to have a lot of cheese that browns too quickly and is tasteless.

Scott, a couple of questions.

1. Does this mean that mozzarella that is not part skim will brown better/quicker than part skim?

2. Would taking part skim and tossing it in olive oil produce better browning results?

Thanks,Barry (the other one)

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scott123

I think I'm being confusing with my usage of the term 'brown' here. It's confusing because good cheese will bubble and eventually brown, while bad cheese will quickly brown on top and burn. 'Brown' can be good and brown can be bad. Let's move away from the term. The same way that, if you crank up the heat on pizza, you get uneven black spots/char, lower fat cheese will brown quickly and unevenly as well. We need to differentiate between the kind of horrible cheese 'blackening' that forms on the top of low fat and/or garbage cheeses that doesn't melt/bubble right and just burns on the top versus a good high fat cheese that, over a longer time, will bubble and take on a darker shade of tan. Cheese blackening = very bad. Cheese tanning = very good.

If it helps at all, ignore the color completely and focus on bubbling. High quality and fattier cheeses bubble better. Low quality and lower fat cheeses have trouble bubbling. Bubbling makes or breaks a NY style pizza (unlike Neapolitan where bubbling is generally a fault).

Within this context, here is the answer to your questions:

1. Whole milk part skim will bubble/tan better than part skim

2. Tossing part skim with oil will promote far better bubbling, but, it can get a bit clumpy. Drizzling a very light layer of oil is preferable- or spraying is even better if you've got a good sprayer. I don't really believe in either Pam or Pam clones, not even the 'natural' versions.

Thanks Scott, I follow what you are saying. I am not having an issue with bubbling, however, if I wait for the tanning I would really like to see my crust is browning more than I would like. The idea of "misting" sounds good and I will give that a try as well as see what results I get with whole milk cheese.

scott123

Barry, if your rim if finished baking before your cheese is bubbling and tan, there's a few things you can do about it.

1. Decrease your thickness factor. The thicker the dough, the more water you have in the undercrust, the longer it takes to boil/turn to steam, the less heat is transferred upward to the sauce and then cheese. Bottom heat plays a huge role in proper cheese melting/bubbling/tanning.

2. Use less sauce.

3. Use less cheese.

4. Use room temp or slightly warm (not cooked) sauce.

5. Allow your cheese to come to room temp before using.

6. Make sure you're going with a traditional coarseness of grate for the cheese and not cubing it/breaking it into chunks.

7. Temper your dough a little less so the dough is cooler when you stretch it (remove it from the fridge closer to the bake).

Out of all the options, decreasing the thickness factor is usually the most effective. Bear in mind, as I said before, this is NY style I'm referring to- also, being NY style, I'm talking about low moisture (aged) whole milk brick mozzarella (such as Sorrento or Polly-o)- the supermarket stuff.

I read somewhere here that sugar is usually put in dough to ensure it browning not necessarily to sweeten it per say. I removed it from recipes I've been using and it seemed to help with the crust getting well done before cheese melts and toppings get hot. I'm speaking in the thin cracker crusts.

We've experimented with various pre-shredded mozzarella and the kids' favorites are Sunnyside Farms (California) and Kraft "with a touch of Philadelphia". They will work in a pinch when you're limited to grocery store chains and/or unable to shred for some reason.

It is true that most, if not all, of the shredded cheeses sold at retail in supermarkets and the like contain additives, fillers and preservatives but quality mozzarella cheeses for the foodservice market often don't contain those items. For example, the shredded and diced mozzarella cheeses from Grande do not: see the FAQ on this point at http://www.grandecheese.com/contactus/Pages/FAQ.aspx.

It is true that most, if not all, of the shredded cheeses sold at retail in supermarkets and the like contain additives, fillers and preservatives but quality mozzarella cheeses for the foodservice market often don't contain those items. For example, the shredded and diced mozzarella cheeses from Grande do not: see the FAQ on this point at http://www.grandecheese.com/contactus/Pages/FAQ.aspx.

Peter

That's good to know, Peter. Thanks.

Barry

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Light travels faster than sound. That's why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

Barry - I'm going to Hartford later today and hoping to hit Restaurant Depot. I'll check to see what they have. Not everything they sell is in full cases. With any luck they will have the grande or comparable in diced. I'll let you know what I find.

I've also had success with this. For a part-skim cheese it melted very easily, didn't burn, and had surprisingly nice flavor (NY Style @ 550). I figured it was just a marketing scheme but I was impressed.

If I buy shredded, I use the most coarsely shredded cheese available which this philly stuff was about as coarse as I could find in a 2lb bag.